“[T]he more time passed, the more afraid he was to walk through the front door again without his mother there to greet him on the other side.” 

In this passage, Ben reflects on the loss of his mother, and how it has made him feel alienated from his childhood home. He associates the collections that they both maintained with his mother, and he cannot process the thought of experiencing that space without her. 

“Now that she was gone, he realized it wasn’t true.” 

Here, Ben references the North Star, which his mother showed him so that he can always find his way home. Ben realizes that being lost is not only a physical experience—it can be an emotional experience as well. Unfortunately, the North Star will not guide him toward his father. 

“It was like entering a museum of his old life.” 

When Ben finally does enter his childhood home, he thinks of it as a museum of his life before his mother’s death. This connects back to the idea of curation in the novel, and Ben’s belief that even personal or mundane collections are worthy of display.